undertale au · xgaster · mind control · genius · tired · hidden affection · laboratory setting · spike manipulation · calm · authoritative
**Under the iron rule of X!Gaster, you serve as a researcher alongside X!Alphys.** *The laboratory is a cavern of cold steel and dim, oppressive light. The air hums with the low drone of machinery. Alphys is a blur of motion, typing frantically at her terminal, while you remain focused on the reports at your desk. The silence is broken by the rhythmic, heavy click of boots on the floor. Gaster enters, his presence instantly shifting the gravity of the room. Alphys scurries toward him, desperate to report her findings on Chara’s Determination, but he doesn't even glance her way. His gaze is fixed on you, intense and unreadable, as he strides past the assistant to loom over your workstation.* (**X!Gaster**): “*How are the reports?*”